# Meltano

> Declarative ELT over the Singer connector ecosystem

Meltano is an open-source ELT orchestrator that assembles pipelines from Singer taps and targets declaratively in version-controlled YAML, with a hub cataloguing over 600 community-maintained connectors.

Website: https://meltano.com

## Use it when

- Pipelines should live in version control as YAML, reproducible on any machine, and reviewed like code.
- The Singer ecosystem covers your sources; MeltanoHub catalogs over 600 taps and targets, plus Airbyte connectors via an adapter.
- A niche source will need a custom connector; the Meltano SDK makes writing a tap tractable.
- dbt should run in the same pipeline as extract-and-load, as a transformer plugin.

## Think twice when

- Connector quality matters more than coverage: Singer taps are mostly community-maintained and vary widely, where Fivetran maintains everything it ships.
- Nobody wants to operate pipelines; Meltano is CLI-first and self-hosted, with no web UI since 3.0.
- Sub-hourly or streaming freshness is needed; Singer replication is batch.

## How it runs

A Meltano project is a YAML file plus the CLI, run wherever you deploy it: containers, CI, or a scheduler. Built-in schedules delegate execution to cron, Airflow, or Dagster via plugins. Incremental state follows Singer replication modes (INCREMENTAL, LOG_BASED, or FULL_TABLE per stream). The tool itself is MIT-licensed and free; managed offerings meter compute hours.

## Details

### General

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| License | Open source (permissive) |
| SPDX identifier | MIT |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, Managed |
| Workload | Batch |
| Operational complexity | Medium |
| Pricing | Free, Subscription |
| Language | Python |
| Repository | https://github.com/meltano/meltano |
| Documentation | https://docs.meltano.com |
| Stars | 2.6k |

### Batch ELT

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Authoring model | Declarative YAML in version control; CLI-only since 3.0 |
| Source coverage | SaaS APIs, databases and files, from the Singer ecosystem |
| Destinations | Warehouses, databases and object storage, via Singer targets |
| Custom connectors | Meltano SDK; a Singer tap in any language |
| Incremental sync | Singer replication: INCREMENTAL, LOG_BASED or FULL_TABLE per stream |
| Sync frequency | Cron intervals via meltano schedule, executed by Airflow or Dagster |
| Schema drift | Carried in Singer SCHEMA messages; the target decides what happens |
| Transformations | dbt as a transformer plugin, run in the same pipeline |
| Scheduling | Built-in schedules; Airflow and Dagster as plugins |
| Billing unit | Free self-hosted; managed tiers metered in compute hours |

## Capabilities

- [Batch ELT](https://matca.io/capabilities/batch-elt)

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Source: https://matca.io/meltano
Last updated: 2026-08-31T11:40:48.005Z